Mark Pugh (born January 18, 1985), better known by his ring name Mark Briscoe, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He also makes appearances for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he made a name teaming with his brother Jay as the Briscoe Brothers.
Mark Briscoe is a 1-time World Champion, and has won a total of 21 championships in major promotions during his career. He is currently working for All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor under the ring name of Mark Briscoe, and he is the reigning AEW TNT Champion. He is also a member of the team of The Conglomeration (with Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly, Tomohiro Ishii, Willow Nightingale and Hologram).
Mark Briscoe was inducted into the ROH Hall of Fame in 2022 as part of The Briscoes and in the Indie Hall of Fame in 2024 as part of The Briscoes.
Mark used to team with his brother for most of his career. His brother Jay was also a professional wrestler. In total, the Briscoe Brothers won 19 total championship titles together, in both The United States and Japan. Sadly, his brother died in a car accident in January 2023.
The Briscoe Brothers in action. Source: Wikipedia
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Early Life and Career Beginnings
While attending high school, he received Honorable Mention All-State Honors for football in both his junior and senior years. He was also signed as a tight end and a linebacker by Wesley College in Delaware. He and his brother became fascinated by wrestling as children, watching World Wrestling Foundation (WWF) and using their trampoline to practice moves. His father was the coach for his high school's wrestling team. His mother is named Jana.
Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW)
Jay and Mark Briscoe made their debuts for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) at Delaware Invasion on January 20, 2001, being brought in to job as part of a three-on-one handicap match against Trent Acid. At the inaugural Best of the Best event, the two advanced past the first round in a three-way match with Nick Mondo where the stipulation was whoever took the fall would be eliminated. They were then matched against each other in the second round, with Jay winning and advancing further.
After losing in title opportunities at Breakaway Brawl and A New Beginning, the brothers won the CZW Tag Team Championship on July 14, 2001, as they defeated the original H8 Club at H8 Club: Dead? They lost it, however, in their first defense, to Johnny Kashmere and Justice Pain on July 28, 2001, at What About Lobo?
At the end of 2001 and into 2002, CZW's territory was shifting from Sewell, New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in order to hold events regularly at the old ECW arena, beginning with December 15's Cage Of Death 3. At this event, they faced Nick Gage and Nate Hatred, but wore masks and were identified as The Midnight Outlaws. This was likely to get around the fact that Jay was only 17 and Mark only 16 at the time; this meant, as they were under 18 years of age, that they could not legally work in a sport wrestling exhibition in the state of Pennsylvania. As CZW regularly began holding shows in the Philadelphia area, the Midnight Outlaws made appearances at the next four CZW events.
At A Higher Level of Pain on April 13, 2002, Jay appeared across the ring from the Midnight Outlaws, tagging with Ruckus against Mark and someone else. By this time, he had turned 18. Jay and Ruckus were won the match, and this was the last time either Jay or Mark appeared for CZW until April 12, 2003, where Jay and Mark both returned for Best of the Best 3. Jay was a surprise entrant after being taunted by A.J. Styles, and Mark filling in for the injured Ruckus.
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On December 11, 2010, at Cage Of Death XII The Briscoes Returned to CZW challenging newly crowned CZW World Tag Team Champions Philly's Most Wanted of Blk Jeez and Joker to a title match in January. On January 7, 2011, at "From Small Beginnings Come Great Things" Philly's Most Wanted retained the CZW World Tag Team Championships against the Briscoe Brothers in a no contest.
On February 12, 2011, at "Twelve: The Twelfth Anniversary Event" The Briscoe Brothers defeated Philly's Most Wanted to become the new CZW World Tag Team Champions. They lost the title back to Philly's Most Wanted on May 14, 2011.
Mark Briscoe & family celebrate the life of Jay Briscoe. | 1/17/24 Dynamite
Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW)
Mark Briscoe made his Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) debut on March 24, 2001, at March Madness Night 2, losing to Insane Dragon and Dixie teaming with his brother Jay Briscoe. It is unclear how, if at all, JAPW's ownership and management worked around Pennsylvania's child labor law, as both brothers were underage at the time of this and two subsequent appearances in the old ECW arena.
The six men went on to meet in a rematch of sorts at the next event, Royal Consequences 2 on August 10, 2002, Jay Briscoe and Insane Dragon defended the titles against Da Hit Squad and the team of Mark Briscoe and Deranged in a tables, ladders, and chairs match, which Da Hit Squad won. The Briscoes did not appear for JAPW again until late 2005, again in a tables, ladders, and chairs match for the tag team title, this time against the teams of Teddy Hart and Homicide, the Backseat Boyz, and The S.A.T.
The match, which took place at JAPW's 8th Year Anniversary Show, was won Hart and Homicide. At the next show, Fall Out, the S.A.T. defeated them and thus became number one contenders to the tag team championship. More recent JAPW appearances came in early 2006, losing along with the Outcast Killers to the S.A.T. once again at Wild Card II in a tag team title match, and then at Brotherly Love to the team of Sabu and Sonjay Dutt, a match they also lost. In October 2008, the Briscoes competed at JAPW's 11th Anniversary Show against LAX (Homicide and Hernandez).
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Ring of Honor (ROH)
Mark Briscoe was unable to wrestle on ROH's first show The Era of Honor Begins in Philadelphia because of Pennsylvania's child labor laws. He accompanied his brother Jay to the ring at the event for a loss to Amazing Red. Mark was subsequently able to perform at Honor Invades Boston, where he defeated his brother in the second-to-last match of the night. The Brothers went on briefly to feud against each other, during which time Jay scored a non-title win over ROH Champion Xavier at Glory By Honor. This earned him a title shot at All-Star Extravaganza, which he did not win.
At Scramble Madness, back in Boston, the brothers' storyline involved them picking their own partners for a tag team match. Jay picked past foe Amazing Red, whereas Mark's partner was Christopher Daniels, as he seemingly joined The Prophecy. Newly united as a team in ROH, the Briscoes began, in 2003, to feud with A.J.
At Beating the Odds, they returned from a brief absence to score a pair of wins which were depicted in the storyline as being improbable, Mark over ROH veteran B. J. Whitmer and Jay in a Four Corner Survival match with ROH World Champion Samoa Joe, NWA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. The Brothers took part in the gauntlet match at Glory By Honor 2, which was held to fill the tag team championship left vacant by Red suffering a serious knee injury.
They defeated and eliminated the Special K team of Hydro and Angeldust as well as The Ring Crew Express, before being eliminated by the other Special K team in the match, Izzy and Dixie, due to outside interference from Angeldust. After Izzy and Dixie later won the tag team title, the Brothers were granted a shot at it, at Main Event Spectacles. The reason given in the storyline was they were given the shot since they only lost in the gauntlet match because Special K cheated.
In the opening segment of that event, they were aligned with Jim Cornette, because, in the storyline, Cornette wanted to create new champions. They attacked his former client, Samoa Joe, who Cornette abandoned since he already was a champion. They went on to win the belts later in the show. At The Conclusion, The Battle Lines Are Drawn, and The Last Stand, which was by stipulation Joe's last shot at the tag team title for as long as the Briscoe Brothers held it, they retained the belts over Joe and a different partner each time, A.J. Styles, Bryan Danielson, and Jerry Lynn respectively.
Since Joe took pinfalls at The Conclusion (to Mark) and The Last Stand (to Jay), both brothers subsequently earned shots at his world title. They dropped the tag team title to the CM Punk and Colt Cabana at ROH's Chicago-area debut, ROH Reborn: Stage Two, working in ROH for the first time as outward heels. At the next show, Round Robin Challenge III, the title switched three times among the teams in the round robin challenge, the Second City Saints (Punk and Cabana), the Briscoe Brothers, and the Prophecy team of Dan Maff and B. J. Whitmer.
The Briscoes defeated Maff and Whitmer in the fourth match of the night to win the title for a second time, and then lost it back to Punk and Cabana in the main event. The Brothers both participated in ROH's inaugural Survival of the Fittest tournament, with Mark going over Alex Shelley in his qualifier and Jay falling to Homicide.
The Briscoe Brothers during their time in ROH. Credit: lastwordonsports.com
The Briscoe Brothers returned to ROH at the Fourth Anniversary Show in 2006, forcibly including themselves in a match that was at first between the teams of Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro and Jason Blade and Kid Mikaze. They won in their re-debut. They then feuded for the tag team championship again, but much as they had against Styles and Red three years earlier, they lost in three shots against the champions at the time, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, at Ring of Homicide, Destiny, and Unified.
As before, the storyline was that this cost them any chance at the belts for as long as those champs held them. At Fifth Year Festival: Chicago, the Brothers finally reached the top of the mountain again, defeating Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal to win the tag team championship. Their reign was brief, as they dropped the belts to Naruki Doi and Shingo Takagi in their first defense, at Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool.
After this match, the storyline was that the brothers felt they needed to "man up" due to losing the title in their first defense, just as they had the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship earlier in the year. Thus, the two faced off what was described as "one time only" at Fifth Year Festival: Finale. The match ended in a draw, with both of them unable to answer the referee's standing ten-count.
At the next event, All Star Extravaganza III, they won the title back from Doi and Shingo, but in the course of the match Mark was seriously injured attempting a Shooting Star Press to the floor. Mark was kept in the ICU of hospital for two nights, and suffered a seizure there before eventually being released. Two weeks later, at Fighting Spirit, Mark made an unadvertised and unannounced return, entering through the crowd to come to his brother's side during his match with Erick Stevens against Kevin Steen and El Generico.
The storyline was that with Mark out and injured, Jay was tagging with Stevens as a replacement. The No Remorse Corps then ran in and attacked Stevens, and Jay was momentarily left without a partner until Mark entered. Mark eventually suffered the fall in the match after several bumps to the head. They then began to feud with Steen and Generico. After the ladder match, Jimmy Jacobs and the other members of The Age of the Fall attacked the Brothers and hanged Jay upside-down from the apparatus which held up the belts.
It was announced that this would not be included in the footage shown on PPV, although it was soon after shown on ROH's video wire and was included with the DVD of the event. After Mark was again injured in a motorcycle accident, though considerably less serious, Jay was alone in a match held at the taping for ROH's fourth PPV, Undeniable. This was an anything goes match against Necro Butcher of the Age of the Fall, which he did not win.
On November 30, the Briscoes had a match which was taped to be included in Undeniable, a tag team title defense against Davey Richards and Rocky Romero, which they won. After their successful defense against Jacobs & Black on May 10 at A New Level, the championship was declared vacant.
Mark returned to active competition at Northern Navigation on July 25, teaming with Jay and Aries to defeat The Age of the Fall in a no disqualification match. On December 19, 2009, at Final Battle 2009, the Briscoes won the ROH World Tag Team Championship for a record sixth time by defeating The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards). They went on to lose the championship to The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) at The Big Bang! pay-per-view on April 3.
On August 23, 2010, Ring of Honor announced that the company had signed the Briscoe Brothers to contract extensions. The Briscoe Brothers ended their feud with the Kings of Wrestling on December 18 at Final Battle 2010, where they teamed with their father Mike "Papa" Briscoe in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Hero, Castagnoli and their manager Shane Hagadorn.
On January 25, 2011, Ring of Honor announced that the Briscoe Brothers had signed new contract extensions with the promotion. On March 19 at Manhattan Mayhem IV, the Briscoe Brothers turned heel after suffering an upset loss against the All Night Xpress (Kenny King and Rhett Titus). On September 17 at Death Before Dishonor IX, the All Night Xpress defeated the Briscoe Brothers in a ladder match to become the number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
At Final Battle 2011 on December 23, the Briscoes defeated Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the seventh time. On May 12, 2012, at Border Wars, the Briscoe Brothers lost the title back to Haas and Benjamin.
On December 16 at Final Battle 2012: Doomsday, the Briscoe Brothers defeated S.C.U.M. At Death Before Dishonor XIV Mark was unsuccessfully of defeating Bobby Fish for the ROH World Television Championship. At Field of Honor The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) was in a Tag Team Gauntlet match was they were unsuccessfully of winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship which included The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe), The All Night Express (Rhett Titus and Kenny King), Chaos (Gedo and Toru Yano), Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara and Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali.
At All Star Extravaganza VIII The Briscoes teamed with Toru Yano and were defeated by Kushida, A. C. H. and Jay White in the first round of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament. On March 9, 2018, at ROH 16th Anniversary Show, The Briscoes defeated The Motor City Machine Guns to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the ninth time. They lost the titles on October 14, 2018, against So Cal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky).
They won the titles back on December 14, 2018, for the tenth time, but lost them to Villain Enterprises at the ROH 17th Anniversary Show. The Briscoes failed to win the titles and additionally the IWGP Tag Team Championships at G1 Supercard in April, losing to Guerrillas of Destiny in a four-way tag match also involving Villain Enterprises and Los Ingobernables de Japon.
At ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds in May, The Briscoes lost to Guerillas of Destiny once more, failing to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships. The following year at Gateway to Honor, The Briscoes teamed with Slex, losing to Villain Enterprises. On October 27, 2021, Ring of Honor announced that it would go on a hiatus after Final Battle in December, with a return tentatively scheduled for April 2022.
All personnel, including The Briscoes, would also be released from their contracts, but still paid till their contracts expired. It was also announced that champions would be able to defend ROH championships in other promotions. At Final Battle in December, The Briscoes wrestled their final match for ROH defeating The Kingdom to win the ROH World Tag Team Championships for the twelfth time.
During the remainder of 2021 and early 2022, The Briscoes successfully defended the ROH World Tag Team Championships at various independent shows. On March 2, 2022, during All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s live weekly series, AEW Dynamite, owner & executive Tony Khan announced that he had acquired Ring of Honor from the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Following this, ROH returned for the first time since Final Battle at Supercard of Honor XV, where The Briscoes finally faced FTR for the ROH World Tag Team Championships, losing the titles, ending their twelfth reign at 111 days.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
On the January 25, 2023 episode of Dynamite, Briscoe made his AEW debut and defeated Jay Lethal in a match. The episode fell on the same day which his brother Jay was going to turn 39. He entered the Gold League of the Continental Classic.
At Supercard of Honor, Briscoe defeated Eddie Kingston to win the ROH World Championship. In June 2024, Briscoe formed The Conglomeration stable with Kyle O'Reilly, Orange Cassidy and Willow Nightingale. At Forbidden Door, Briscoe entered a ladder match against Jack Perry, Konosuke Takeshita, Dante Martin, Lio Rush, and El Phantasmo to determine the winner of the vacant AEW TNT Championship but the match was won by Perry.
At All Out, Briscoe challenged Kazuchika Okada for his AEW Continental Championship in a three-way match which also included Orange Cassidy and Konosuke Takeshita. On the October 23, 2024 episode of Dynamite, Briscoe defeated Samoa Joe to win the AEW TNT Championship for the first time in his career.
Mark Briscoe in AEW. Credit: sportskeeda.com
Championships and Accomplishments
Mark Briscoe has achieved significant success in his professional wrestling career, including:
- CZW: Two-time CZW World Tag Team Champion
- Impact: One-time Impact World Tag Team Champion
- NJPW: One-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, Two-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion
- ROH: One-time ROH World Champion, One-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion, Thirteen-time ROH World Tag Team Champion, 2009 and 2013 Honor Rumble winner, ROH Hall of Fame Inductee (with Jay Briscoe)
- AEW: One-time AEW TNT Champion